Dr Kevin Smythe is a local Perth man who worked in operations and intelligence in the RAAF for 22 years, and later spent 15 years as a military adviser in the Middle East, and he came along to tell us about the Catalina aircraft that flew from Perth during WWII. Kevin has conducted research on this topic since his return to Perth, and the story that he told was most interesting. Basically Kevin explained to us how the United States Navy and Qantas Catalina Flying Boats protected WA, broke the Japanese air blockade, and thus created a post-war legacy for our region. The US Navy Patrol Wing 10 was established in the Philippines at the end of 1940, but after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, it relocated to various relevant locations, ending up in Perth in March 1942 after the Japanese bombing of Darwin. PW10 undertook various missions such as Operation Flight Gridiron which rescued VIPs and Nurses from Manila Bay, and Fremantle was an important port for refuelling PW10’s utility planes, tenders and torpedo boats. Meanwhile Qantas had to find alternative routes for its Empire mail route, and it ended up flying 5 PBY Catalinas from Perth to Ceylon and on to Karachi – secretly taking many Allied troops on board in addition to the mail and other ‘legitimate’ cargo. After the end of the war the four remaining Catalinas in Perth were eventually destroyed just west of Rottnest Island, thus ending an amazing contribution to the war effort. Thank you, Kevin, for enlightening us on a subject about which little is generally known.